2007-09-01

Werner Patels Could Replace Barbara Amiel

I have been in this racket of blogging (mostly, political blogging) for a while now. What never ceases to amaze me is the amount of time and effort some people will put into analyzing me and tracking everything I do and/or write.

Today, for example, checking on my visitor stats for my political blog, I noticed a surge in searches leading to various of my sites (and those of others) that all clearly served only one purpose: tracking my presence in the blogosphere. This became especially apparent when I saw that a certain someone (or a certain number of individuals) really started digging into my blogging past, looking for and at, for example, comments I posted to other people's blogs several years ago.

For those who don't know, I am actually quite well known in Canadian politics and/or the political blogosphere. Government ministries and agencies, for instance, regularly run specific Google searches for my name if they want to read my latest opinions on current affairs.

I don't pretend to be an opinion-maker, but that's how, apparently, a lot of people see me. In fact, many of those who are opposed to my particular political views are outright scared of what I might write -- so scared in fact that they will do everything in their power to discredit me (and, as I mentioned at the start of this piece, spend an exorbitant amount of time and energy on such efforts).

I am merely an observer of the political scene (a highly experienced and educated observer, but an observer nonetheless). The decision to blog/write about politics was born of a need to vent -- after all, the world has become such a mess that it's hard not to explode whenever the news comes on.

It is true, though, that I hope to sway readers in some way -- preferably away from those parties and other influences that I deem noxious and harmful (e.g., in Canadian politics, that would be the Liberal Party). I must be quite successful, given how my opponents crap in their pants whenever I publish a new article or column.

Be that as it may, they can do, say and write whatever they want -- it's no skin off my nose. They're only wasting their time because I can't be silenced. And, so far, anyone who has tried to discredit me only managed to discredit themselves, wrecking their reputation in the process.

Since most of them are uneducated welfare cases who spend all their waking hours blogging at the expense of people like me (i.e., someone who works for a living and pays taxes), I take comfort knowing that they're kept busy -- otherwise, they'd be hanging around street corners begging for spare change (then again, one of them has actually become a "blogging panhandler" recently, asking readers for spare change).

Yes, I have more education in my pinkie than most of them could ever achieve in three or ten lifetimes (for starters, they can't even spell, which makes reading their blogs a horrendous exercise in futility). Sure, I am an arrogant A-hole, but when you are blessed and privileged enough to be one, why not?